There was a lot of gold, but few resources. In the second week, I cleared my entire respawn area and picked up two Pandora's Boxes — one for experience and the other for gold. I leveled up Ivor's Earth magic, then took 2 Hives and on day 131 headed to the center for the Manticore. I broke through without any issues, took another 2 Hives, and 2 Pandora's Boxes for Cyclopes and Thunderbirds. In the end, the army was decent for the finale, but I lacked the experience to capitalize on it all.
Thank you for the game